“In a few instances, somebody’s been getting away with it for, say, five or six years.

“We’ve identified them now, and they’ll have to repay all $60,000 which they owe and they may face criminal circumstances themselves.”

As for how these prisoners have gone unnoticed for so long, the Minister tells Smith, “we’ve introduced data-matching with the department of corrections in every state and territory so that we match every individual that goes into prison with our Centrelink records.

“If they have been receiving that payment when they shouldn’t have been, then we’ll follow them up and we’ll get that money back.